River Deep

Title: River Deep
Author: Bryan Gruley
Published: July 7, 2026 by Severn House
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 444 Pages
Genre: Legal Thriller
Series: Bitterfrost #2

Blurb: Attorney Devyn Payne expects a quieter life when she returns to her hometown of Bitterfrost. Until the bodies of two eight-month-old boys are pulled from the icy depths of the local river. Was it a tragic accident or something more disturbing?

The twins’ distraught parents survived the car crash, but their mother, Catriona Dulaney, was driving. Now she’s charged with killing her babies, and her admission of guilt has leaked online. It should be the most straightforward case Devyn prosecutes all year. And yet, to her, it doesn’t add up.

With time dwindling ahead of the trial, Detective Garth Klimmek questioning Cat’s role in the tragedy, and a suspicious outsider loitering around town, this crime might just be the tip of an iceberg. Devyn’s put two Dulaneys behind bars before. This time, whose side will she take—and what will it cost?

My Opinion: River Deep is the second book in Brian Gruley’s Bitterfrost series, and let me say this upfront: you really do need to start with ‘Bitter Frost’. Gruley often references the first book, but never quite gives new readers enough to stand on. If you jump in here, you’ll feel like you arrived halfway through a conversation and everyone expects you to already know the gossip.

Now, what Gruley does deliver, and deliver well, is that unmistakable mid‑west noir atmosphere. I’m currently in the middle of a heatwave, yet somehow, I’m bundled up under a blanket because Gruley can make Michigan’s cold wind rattle straight through your bones. It’s a neat trick, and honestly, one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed his previous works.

But this one? This one tested my patience.

So many half‑answers, evasions, and characters who seem allergic to giving a straight response. Not miscommunication, it is avoidance. And while that can be delicious in a mystery, here it often felt like wading through fog that never quite lifts. Add in overly descriptive passages, repetitive reminders of things the reader already knows, sudden tangents, and the occasional “I just discovered my thesaurus” word dropped in out of nowhere, and the pacing becomes exhausting. I found myself muttering “get on with it already” more than once, which is never a great sign.

The plot itself has promise. From the earliest pages, you think you know what’s going on, but then you’re dragged through so many side jaunts and slow stretches that the momentum sputters. And just when things finally start to move, Gruley circles back to re‑explain what we’ve already been told. It’s the kind of structure that makes you understand why some readers skim everything but the dialogue. I refused to do that, mostly out of loyalty to the author, but I did wonder what went wrong here.

The good news: the last 80% picks up. A twist, well, more like a bullet, finally shakes the story awake, answers start landing, and the narrative tightens. But even with that improvement, it wasn’t quite enough to pull the book out of the “mediocre” pile for me.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays

Title: The Bookshop of Yesterdays
Author: Amy Meyerson
Published: June 12, 2018 by Park Row
Format: Paperback 397 Pages
Genre: General Fiction

Blurb: A woman inherits a beloved bookstore and sets forth on a journey of self-discovery in this poignant debut about family, forgiveness and a love of reading.

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy’s bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda’s twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda’s life. She doesn’t hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy—and one final scavenger hunt.

My Opinion: In my ongoing quest to clear off the long ignored corners of my TBR shelf, The Bookshop of Yesterday was next in line. And maybe it’s me, maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood, but this one was boring from the start and, frankly, obvious in all the ways I didn’t want it to be.

Bookstore settings usually give a story an automatic boost. Readers love them; I love them. But the secrets, the literary clues, the scavenger hunt style breadcrumb trail… none of it added any real spark here. Especially when the main character is someone you wouldn’t willingly spend an afternoon with, let alone follow through a maze of “mysteries.” She’s distant in that way that makes you feel like you’re reading from the outside looking in, never quite invited to care.

As the story went on, it felt like the author kept tossing more and more elements into the mix that didn’t need more family drama, emotional revelations, and bookish puzzles, in hopes that something would deepen the narrative. But everything stayed surface-level, as if the book were trying to convince me it had layers without ever actually revealing any.

By the halfway point, it had become an overlong slog of predictability. Honestly, it should have been a DNF. But because it had been sitting on my shelf for ages, I felt obligated to give it a fair shot. In hindsight? A waste of time. Some books reward your patience; this one just drained it.

Bewitching Bitters

Title: Bewitching Bitters
Author: Annabel Chase
Published: January 21, 2026 by Storm Publishing
Format: Kindle, 196 Pages
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Midlife Magic Cocktail Club #2

Blurb: Kate Golden has built a successful career helping others become their best selves. But when Kate inherits magical powers from the late Inga Paulsen, the spell that holds her carefully controlled world together begins to unravel.

What starts with a mysterious cocktail recipe from an enchanted book quickly spirals into disaster. A grotesque wart sprouts on her chin, her hair turns shocking pink and her perfect life crumbles in the most public way possible. Desperate to regain control, Kate experiments with magical ingredients in her kitchen. But magic has its own agenda, and every spell she attempts only makes things worse.

With the support of her fellow witches in the cocktail club, Kate is forced to surrender control and trust in powers beyond her understanding. Sometimes finding the best version of yourself means embracing the magic in life’s messy moments.

My Opinion: I’m honestly not sure what happened here. The first book in the series, Magic Uncorked, had that warm, cozy, lightly witchy feel, the kind of paranormal comfort read that feels like settling into a cushy armchair with a mug of something spiced. So, I went into Bewitching Bitters expecting more of that same charm. Instead, the vibe shifted, and not in a way that worked for me.

There’s a sharper edge to this second book, a kind of negative bite that kept pulling me out of the story. I understand that Kate Golden, our newbie witch, is supposed to be challenged with growth arcs, magical mishaps, all that good stuff, but the tone didn’t land the same way. And Kate herself… well, she made it tough. Her relentless drive to be perfect, paired with the constant whining, had me counting pages and quietly wishing she’d take a breath, have a snack, and maybe stop trying to win Witch Student of the Year.

It’s hard to connect with a protagonist who feels closed off and prickly in all the wrong ways. I kept hoping she’d soften or surprise me, but instead I found myself missing the warmth and camaraderie that made the first book sparkle.

I’m holding out hope, though. This series centers on a group of women—the Midlife Magic Cocktail Club—and Kate is just one of them. Maybe the next woman’s story will bring back that inviting, cozy paranormal feel that hooked me in the first place. I’m ready for a different flavor in the next installment, preferably one with a little less bitterness and a lot more charm.

The Someday Garden

Title: The Someday Garden
Author: Ashley Poston
Published: June 16, 2026 by Berkley
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
Genre: Paranormal

Blurb: When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.

But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.

And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.

This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.

Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.

My Opinion: This novel and I got off to a slow shuffle together; one of those starts where you keep thinking, “Okay, any minute now…” It’s easy enough to follow, almost too simplistic, but I kept waiting for that spark, that little narrative jolt that tells you you’re in for a good ramble down a garden path. Instead, I found myself watching the pages drift by where nothing much happens.

Still, there are bright spots. How can you not love a character who consults a Magic 8 Ball like it’s a trusted life coach? At first, it feels like a quirky personality trait, but later you realize those little plastic prophecies carry emotional weight. It’s one of the few touches that made me sit up a bit straighter and think, “Oh, that’s why this round sphere matters.”

Her fixation on the loss of a friend is understandable, though the book circles that grief so often it starts to feel like déjà vu. And the caramel colored eyes—my goodness. A bit overdone to say the least.

The pacing doesn’t help. A third of the way in, I was still waiting for the story to find its footing. When things finally begin to click into place, it’s more of a gentle nudge than a satisfying snap. The magical secret garden should have been a moment of wonder, but instead I found myself unsure why or how it all worked. The book gestures toward enchantment without fully committing to its logic.

There are a few graphic moments that might catch some readers off guard, especially given the otherwise soft, whimsical tone. And yes, there are funny bits, where Poston has a knack for wry humor and duck antics, but they’re scattered too thinly to lift the overall mood.

I think part of my restlessness came from having read The Seven Year Slip first. That book had a twist that made the whole journey feel worthwhile, like the author had been quietly laying breadcrumbs the entire time. With The Someday Garden, I kept waiting for that same “ah ha” moment, the one that makes you grateful you stuck around. It never arrived. Instead, I closed the book thinking, “Well… I guess that was ok,” which is never the reaction you hope for when a story promises magic.

In the end, it’s a gentle, occasionally charming read that just never quite delivered what it could have been.